Improvement in chain-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

' GEoEGE- w. BINNIX, OF SUNBURY, PENNSYLVANIA.

. IMPROVEMENT IFN CHAIN-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 137,408, dated Api i1 1, 1873; application filed February 10, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BINNIX, of Sunbury, in the county of Northumberland and in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Manufacturing Chain-Links; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, in which-- Figure l is a plan view of the upper side of my device as arranged for use. Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of the same upon line as w of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a cross-section upon line z z of Figs. 1 and 2.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

- My invention is an improvement upon a class of devices used for bending links to a proper shape for welding; and it consists principally in the combination of a reciprocating slotted head, provided with pivoted bending-rollers, with a stationary former or swage, and with suitable compression-rollers, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter specified; it consists further in the means employed for freeing the link after bending from the former or swage, substantially as is hereinafter set forth.

In the annexed drawing, A represents the frame or bed-plate of the device, having substantially the horizontal form shown, at or near the longitudinal center of which is provided two guides or ways, B, similar in form and arrangement to those employed for the reception of the cross-head of an engine. Two other guides,0, are placed upon the face of the bed-plate A in front of the guides B, and are arranged parallel with the same and with each other, but have abouttwice the distance between their inner edges that is left between said guides B. Within the guides B and O is placed a cross-head, D, which has substantially the form in plan view of the letter T,

the forward or broad end being contained within or between said guides 0, While the narrow or rear end embraces the inner edges of said guides B. A reciprocating motion is imparted to the cross-head D by means of a shaft, E, which is journaled within suitable bearings F attached to or upon the bed-plate A near its rear end, and is provided with a crank, E, upon which is journaled one end of a connecting-rod, G, the opposite end of which is in a like manner journaled upon or within the rear end of said cross-head. By rotating the shaft within its bearings the cross-head will be alternately moved forward and back within or upon its guides. The cross-head D is provided with a horizontal slot, d, which extends from its front end rearward nearly to its rear end, and within said slot near the forward end of .said head are pivoted two rollers, H, in such position as to bring their grooved peripheries about upon a line with the inner edges of the guides O, leaving between their inner edges a space about equal to the transverse dimensions of the link that is to be formed. Secured to or upon the bed-plate A directly in a line with the vertical and horizontal centers of the crosshead D is a swage or former, I, which corresponds in vertical dimensions to the like feature of v the slot 01, while horizontally, from its rear end forward, said swage has the size and form of the interior of a link.

As thus constructed and arranged the device is used as follows: A blank is placed upon the guides 0 directly in front of the crosshead, and. the latter caused to move forward when the center of said blank will be arrested by the end of the swage I, and its ends bent forward against the sides of said swage. In order that the ends of the link may, just before the close of the forward stroke of the cross-head, be firmly compressed against the swage, while the movement of said cross-head is comparatively free during the remainder of its stroke, a roller, K, is pivoted upon each of the guides G in such a position as to bear against the rollers H just before the crosshead reaches the forward limit of its stroke. The bearing-pins h of the rollers H are contained within transverse slots h formed within the cross-head so as to permit said pins and their rollers to have a certain amount of horizontal and transverse motion. If the bearings of the compression-rollers K are made adjustable toward or from the center, it will be seen that by arranging them so as to bring the peripheries of said rollers within the lines of the peripheriesof the bendingrollers H, the latter upon. striking the former will be forced inward and with them the ends of the link. As the blank usually adheres to and is left upon the former upon the withdrawal of the cross-head, it is necessary to remove it at each operation, for which purpose the apparatus described below is employed. The forked end of a bar, L, is suit ably pivoted atone end to or upon the forward end of the bed-plate upon opposite sides of the former, and is provided with two arms,-

l, which extend horizontally forward and then downward, with their inner faces in a line with the outer sides of said former, so that by tiltin g said bar forward said arms will pass downward upon opposite sides of the same. A rod, M, is pivoted within the upper end of the bar L, and extending rearward through a vertical stud, N, secured to and extending upward from the cross-head D, has its rear end bent upward at a right angle, so that when said cross-head nears .the limit of its backward stroke said stud N shall engage with the bent end of said rod, and'move the same rearward untilthe arms I have pushed the link from its former. Upon the forward stroke of the crosshead the bar L is returned to a vertical position by means of a spring, 0, which is secured at its ends to or upon the upper end of said bar'and upon the end of the former.

The device thus described is simple in construction, efficient in operation, not easily deranged, and can be furnished at a small cost as compared with apparatus usually employed for sucha purpose.

Having thus fully set forth the nature and merits of my invention, what I claim as new 1s- 1. The combination, as hereinbefore described, of the cross-head D, the bendingrollers H, supported by the journals it within GEORGE W. BINNIX.

Witnesses:

GEo. S. PRINDLE, EDM. F. BROWN. 

